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Hosted by Francis Rose, Pentagon Solutions is a deep-dive conversation series that calls on defense experts both inside and outside of DoD to share ideas to solve the big challenges the defense community faces.

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Two priorities shape the way the United States Army will drive its business: Warfighting and enterprise information environment mission areas. Those priorities are more important in an Army where human power, and budget, is getting smaller. Doug Wiltsie is program executive officer for Enterprise Information Systems for the Army. On In Depth with Francis Rose, Doug laid out three priorities for 2015 and he says the first one is uninterrupted capability delivery.

The F-22 Raptor made its combat debut against the Islamic State in Syria this week. The F-22 project cost about $70 billion over a decade. The Pentagon expects the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to be combat-ready in four years, and it's already the most expensive weapon system in Defense Department history. Cary Russell, director of Defense Capabilities and Management Issues at the Government Accountability Office, estimates the cost of running the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. He told In Depth with Francis Rose after DoD activates the F-35 for combat, the cost could reach about $1 trillion.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has approved the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act. The legislation is designed to expand information shared about cybersecurity threats and defensive mechanisms between the government and companies and within the private sector. The goal is to combat the rapid increase in attacks on computer systems that have resulted in the theft of millions of Americans' personal information and hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for businesses.

The release of the National Defense Panel's analysis of the Quadrennial Defense Review is just a few weeks away. That panel is Congress' independent review board for the QDR. Nora Bensahel is senior fellow and co-director of the Responsible Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security. She was a guest for Pentagon Solutions on In Depth with Francis Rose. Her latest work is titled "Beyond the QDR: Key Issues Facing the National Defense Panel." She says the QDR doesn't break much new ground, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Both the Pentagon and Congress are missing a critical piece of national security strategy in the fiscal 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. Barry Pavel, vice president of the Atlantic Council and director of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, joined Francis Rose for Pentagon Solutions. Barry writes policymakers need to consider a formal strategy to address the power of the individual.

Congress is hollowing out the Defense Department and turning the nation's military into a paper tiger of global proportions. That's according to Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and a former special assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations. He joined In Depth with Francis Rose for Pentagon Solutions today. He and his colleague Todd Harrison write about the Defense Department's fiscal 2015 budget process on Capitol Hill and how it forces the Pentagon to ignore its own budgetary wisdom.

More than $1 trillion in sequestration-related cuts could put national security at risk. That's what the Defense Department argues. The Pentagon's report describes what DoD could look like if sequestration continues past fiscal 2015. Russell Rumbaugh, director of budgeting for foreign affairs and defense and senior associate at the Stimson Center, joined Francis Rose for Pentagon Solutions.

The Defense Department is looking at programs to cut back or kill because of budget pressures. When you get the work to terminate your program, you don't just stop. The Defense Acquisition University's Smart Shutdown guide book tells you how to shut down the right way. John Adams, director of the specialty engineering education and training program and professor of acquisition program management and systems engineering at the Defense Acquisition University, was Francis Rose's guest on Pentagon Solutions.

The Defense Department's overall budget will shrink by a combined $900 billion by fiscal year 2021, according to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno. He tells the Senate Armed Services Committee how the Army will absorb more than $260 billion in cuts during that span. On Pentagon Solutions, Odierno says the Pentagon is creating a Total Army Solution for the looming budget cuts.

The military's commissary system is in line for cuts in the Fiscal 2015 budget request from the Pentagon. Those cuts, like a lot of other cuts, have some pretty strong opponents. But in the case of the commissaries, the opponents aren't necessarily obvious. On Pentagon Solutions, Todd Harrison, senior fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, explains why the commissary system is generating some much heat.

A public affairs program for international students is helping the Pentagon meet its strategic defense goals. The Defense Information School is helping students from six different countries develop military communications strategies that are unique to their home countries. DoD says it's part of an overall military-to-military engagement plan. Col. Jeremy Martin, commandant of the Defense Information School, and one of his students, Capt. Rebecca Callas in the El Savladoran Air Force, were guests on In Depth with Francis Rose for Pentagon Solutions.

The Littoral Combat Ship program is struggling to stay afloat financially. But Congress has another concern. The ships themselves might be easy to sink. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus testified before the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee on the Navy's budget request yesterday. Subcommittee member Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.) asked him to explain how this is possible if the LCS is supposed to be the ship of the future.

Half a decade of reports and recommendations on the F-35 program has led to one conclusion: It's still not out of the woods. The fifth annual progress report from the Government Accountability Office has some bad news that looks all too familiar to some people. Mike Sullivan, director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management Issues at GAO, testified about the F-35 program at a hearing of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces today. He joined In Depth with Francis Rose for Pentagon Solutions.